Garvin interception turns tide for FSU

October 7, 2007|By Andrew Carter TALLAHASSEE BUREAU

TALLAHASSEE — Bobby Bowden ducked into the tunnel underneath the stands at Doak Campbell Stadium and the people that peered over the railing chanted his name as the coach disappeared on his way to the locker room.

The fans here were happy Saturday night in the moments after time ran out on Florida State's 27-10 victory over North Carolina State. And Bowden, smiling and waving in the direction of the adoration, pretended he was a satisfied, too.

After all, the victory was the Seminoles' fourth consecutive, and their first against an Atlantic Coast Conference Atlantic Division rival since October 2005.

Yet, when it ended, after the stands had emptied and the cheers quieted, Bowden and his coaching staff lamented that this victory came harder than it should have - that the Seminoles (4-1, 1-1) still have a ways to travel.

"It just didn't look like we were ready to play when we came out," FSU defensive coordinator Mickey Andrews said. "Like we didn't expect them to fight."

Fight the Wolfpack (1-5, 0-3) did. With its old coach, Chuck Amato, watching from the FSU sideline, N.C. State put together perhaps its best half of the season during the first 30 minutes.

After Florida State used just more than three minutes to score on the first series of the game, N.C. State responded with a TD drive of its own, and it refused to allow the Seminoles momentum.

"A team like that, you have to break 'em somewhere," Bowden said. "As long as they can play even with you, or lead you, they've got fire and fight and you're wondering if you can even win the game.

"And that game was that way. Like I told our kids, 'it will be a struggle until you go out there and break them.' "

A little less than four minutes into the second half, FSU finally did. The Wolfpack at the time were driving near midfield. N.C. State quarterback Daniel Evans dropped back. FSU pressure sent him to his right. He threw a wobbly off-balance pass.

From his spot in the secondary, FSU cornerback Michael Ray Garvin saw the play unfold before him. He saw Evans throw under pressure, and Garvin watched that pass float helplessly toward him.

"It was kind of an instinct play," Garvin would say later.

He hauled in the interception. Only Evans stood in his way.

The junior didn't stop until he returned the interception 43 yards for a touchdown, which was both the first of his career and the play on this day that turned things in FSU's favor for good.

"[It] kind of took it out of North Carolina State, put us in the driver's seat," Bowden said. After that, the Seminoles' defense, which held N.C. State to 63 total yards in the second half, didn't allow the Wolfpack to threaten again. Later in the third, the teams received a 49-minute break because of a lightning delay and then, early in the fourth, FSU quarterback Xavier Lee connected with Greg Carr on a 40-yard touchdown pass.

Lee, starting the fourth game of his collegiate career, finished 16 of 28 for 257 yards. He had the long TD pass to Carr and ran for another on the first drive of the game.

Bowden said he was happy with the performance of Lee, who ignited FSU during its victory against Alabama last weekend. Yet the coach wasn't pleased with his team's first-half play - when FSU failed to take advantage of scoring opportunities - or his team's 11 penalties, which accounted for 91 yards.

"It's very obvious it's not close yet [to being where we want to be]," Bowden said.

So Bowden's boys again will go on a journey to try to get there.

FSU has just a few days to prepare for a Thursday trip to Wake Forest, where the Seminoles will meet the team that embarrassed them like no other a season ago.